A Complete Guide to Stevia: Side Effects, Proposed Benefits, and More Things to Know About the Natural Sweetener

Stevia is a natural, zero-calories sweetener found in 14,500 foods and drinks across the globe.

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Stevia is an intensely sweet-tasting, zero-calorie plant extract that’s gained interest as a replacement for sugar. (1) It’s spiked in popularity in recent years, thanks to its reputation as being a more “natural” sweetener compared with common lab-made artificial sweeteners. (It comes from a leaf extract.) Stevia is now an ingredient in 14,500 foods and beverages worldwide, according to the PureCircle Stevia Institute. (2) You’ll find the sweetener widely available under many brand names in the store for use at home, including Stevia in the Raw, PureVia, SweetLeaf, Pyure, Wholesome!, and Splenda Naturals, which now makes its own version of Stevia.

What Is Stevia Exactly, and How Is the Sweetener Made?

Stevia, or Stevia rebaudiana, is a plant native to South America. (3) People there have been consuming the leaves as a source of sweetness for hundreds of years, according to an article published in May 2015 in the journal Nutrition Today. (4) It became popular as a sweetener in Japan in the 1970s, but it hadn’t been a leading sweetener in the United States until a decade ago. Today, the extract is widely popular as a zero-calorie sugar alternative. Most notably, stevia is very potent; it’s 200 to 350 times sweeter than sugar. (3)

Because stevia is added to thousands of products, reading the ingredient label will tell you if stevia is included. Still, it does go by many names, which can sometimes make pinpointing its presence tricky. Here are the ones to look for, according to PureCircle:

Stevia

High-purity stevia

Stevia extract

Stevia leaf extract

Steviol glycosides

Steviol glycosides (E960)

Rebiana

Rebaudioside A (Reb A)

Stevioside

A Closer Look at How Stevia Is Made

Unlike artificial sweeteners, which are made in a lab, stevia does come from plant leaves. But it needs to be processed before it gets to your table or in your food — it’s not likely you’re eating the leaf itself. According to Truvia, a brand of stevia that runs the website Stevia.com, the leaves are first harvested, dried, and steeped in hot water. (5) The liquid is then filtered and spun to make an extract from the intensely sweet components of the leaf called steviol glycosides. It’s then blended with any number of additives, like dextrose or maltodextrin, to cut the intense sweetness so that it can be easily incorporated into foods.

Stevia vs. Sugar: How Do They Compare Nutritionally?

As you can see, table sugar is a carbohydrate. What’s more, all of its carbohydrates (and calories) come from sugar. (And, for reference, other sweeteners, like honey and maple syrup, contain a similar number of calories as traditional granulated sugar.)

Clearly, stevia and sugar are very different, particularly because stevia adds nothing to your daily calorie totals. Other sugar substitutes (aspartame, saccharin, sucralose) are also almost completely free of calories.

Here’s how common sugar sources, including agave, saccharin, and stevia, may impact your waistline — and how to make sure your sweet tooth isn’t sabotaging your weight loss goals!

Does Stevia Work to Boost Your Health?

You’ll hear many health benefits being attached to stevia, but it’s important to realize that the research on the extract is still new, and the long-term effects aren’t clear yet.

Many people talk about how stevia has a favorable effect on blood sugar levels — making it ideal for people with type 2 diabetes, those who want to lose weight — or use this as an indication that it’s better than other non-nutritive sweeteners. According to the position statement published in May 2012 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetitcs, randomized trials on the weight loss and diabetes management potential for stevia is largely mixed. (8) Some trials show that blood glucose responses are lower after consuming stevia, while others report no changes.

When it comes to other health markers, like blood pressure, the results are also often mixed. Two of the trials the authors looked at reported no changes, while one did report a decrease in blood pressure after eating stevia compared with a placebo. Overall, consider stevia an option as a sweetener, but don’t expect it to make a discernable difference in your health.

Is Stevia Good for Weight Loss or Maintenance?

It’s not yet clear if stevia can help you lose weight. Theoretically it should if you’re consuming a zero-calorie sugar in place of traditional sugar. But the human body is complex and research hasn’t yet panned out that calorie-free sweeteners, including stevia, can slim you down. Just like with other calorie-free sweeteners, you may eat more out of the belief that you “saved” calories, or these sweeteners may uniquely affect your appetite to prompt you to eat more.

In one small study, published in March 2017 in the International Journal of Obesity, which was conducted on 30 adult men, participants drank a beverage sweetened by aspartame, monk fruit, sucrose (sugar), or stevia and then ate lunch an hour later. (9) People who drank the zero-calorie beverage (regardless of the type) ate more lunch compared with those who drank the sucrose (sugar) beverage.

What does that mean? “The energy ‘saved’ from replacing sucrose with NNS [non-nutritive sweeteners] was fully compensated for at subsequent meals; hence, no difference in total daily energy intake was found between the treatments,” the authors wrote. That said, prior research found that when people consumed a stevia or aspartame drink before a meal, they did not end up eating more compared with those having a sucrose (sugar) drink. (10)

More on Sugar-Laden Drinks

Another review published September 2017 in Nutrition Journal looked at three randomized controlled trials involving stevia. (11) “None of them described a difference in change of body weight between the intervention and control groups,” the authors write.

The takeaway: Research is mixed. Including stevia or other calorie-free sweeteners in the context of a healthy diet may be your best bet if you’re looking to lose weight. (12)

Is Stevia Okay for People With Diabetes?

Yes, it is. Non-nutritive sweeteners can play a role in your diet if you have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. (13) When used to replace sugar, these can potentially help with glucose control, according to a scientific statement they released in 2012, which included comments on stevia. But the authors noted that research hasn’t shown that these types of sweeteners actually do help people reduce their calorie or carbohydrate intake in a real-world setting.

More on Eating Sugar in a Diabetes Diet

Plus, you may have heard the buzz that stevia is actually helpful for blood sugar control. Initial research on mice published in March 2017 in the journal Nature Communication shows that stevia stimulates a specific protein channel that helps the pancreas release the proper dose of insulin. (14) But jumping to the conclusion that stevia is a way to treat diabetes isn’t yet appropriate, the study author noted in the press release. (15)

If you have diabetes, you know that what you put on your plate is one of the most important management tools at your disposal. These are some of the best eats to help you meet your target A1C.

Tips for Selecting and Storing Stevia

You’ll find Stevia both as a standalone ingredient that you can add to your foods at home as well as in food and beverages, like sodas, juices, yogurt, baked goods, gum, and sweets, to name a few. (1)

When purchasing Stevia as an at-home ingredient, you have two main choices: powdered or granulated stevia that comes in packets, and liquid bottles or droppers.

You can also find it in blended products, which may combine stevia with other additives, like erythritol (a sugar alcohol). (16) Some blends also use ingredients like dextrose and inulin. These help consumers better use stevia in cooking and baking without having to use crazy conversion charts. (1) You may also find brands that combine stevia and regular sugar to help cut the sugar content.

To store, keep in a cool, dark, dry place, like a cabinet way from heat. (17) If using a liquid drop, read the bottle to see if it needs to be stored in the refrigerator. (Some do not.) (18) It should be no surprise that different types of stevia have different shelf lives. (3)

How to Use Stevia to Help Sweeten Your Dishes

Looking to cook or bake with stevia? Add it as a sweetener in coffee or tea? First, remember that stevia can be up to 350 times sweeter than table sugar, meaning a little goes a long way. The conversion differs depending on if you’re using a packet or liquid drops; 1 tsp of sugar is equal to one-half a stevia packet or five drops of liquid stevia. (2) For larger recipes (like baking), ½ cup sugar equates to 12 stevia packets or 1 tsp of liquid stevia. But if you regularly bake with stevia, consider buying a stevia blend with sugar that’s designed for baking (it will say so on the package), which allows you to substitute stevia for sugar in a 1:1 ratio, making the cooking process easier.

If you’re new to stevia, you may first try it in coffee or tea, something that can help reduce your added sugar consumption throughout the day. (1) In warm drinks, stevia dissolves well. Add a portion of a stevia packet, stir, and taste, continuing to add more until you reach your desired level of sweetness.

As for cooking and baking, you can substitute stevia and its respective blends for most or some of the added sugar in a recipe, as it remains stable when heated. (1) Just remember to always read the label of the product you’re using to get the right conversion. It’s also recommended that you keep ¼ cup of granulated sugar in the recipe so that the food will caramelize or brown nicely. Include it in pancakes, cookies, muffins, pie, frozen desserts, salad dressings, and sauces.

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Is Stevia Safe? A Look at the Side Effects and Possible Health Risks

Stevia obtained GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2008. (20) The Centers for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit watchdog group, also said that stevia is safe in a 2014 report on sugar substitutes. (21)

In terms of side effects, if you overeat stevia-containing foods simply because you believe they’re healthier, you can still gain weight. (22) There are also questions about if stevia, like other non-nutritive sweeteners, alters the balance of gut bacteria in the body, the health implications of which aren’t fully understood, noted an article published in July 2018 in the journal PLoS One. (23)

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that stevia is not cancerous! And it also won’t cause diabetes. Studies that look at these types of sweeteners on outcomes like cancer or diabetes “are completely lacking,” according to the September 2017 research review from Nutrition Journal. (11) “Clearly there is a need for further research,” the authors noted.